Henri Charriere

🐓 There are too many variables to consider here. The dealer is not a consideration. An "auction," then in progress, is. Same coin, same grade may be subject to conjecture. Would anyone call a race that has only reached the clubhouse turn? What about packaging? Is it not inherently unfair to compare a slab that is all gussied up with interesting and attractive graphics with one that isn't? Can one extrapolate success or failure from any experimental, trial initiative still in its infancy? For the most part, grading scales overseas embrace eight conditions + proofs. This race (likely over by now) represents but a drop in the ocean of moderns. Is it a portent of the future? "The streets is watching," and so are NGC personnel. I have no opinion on the matter.

🐓 Certainly not! But as the Great z once observed, the operative word is "believe." At the risk of incurring the further wrath of the OP who recently stated he was interested in downsizing his holdings, I am providing a possible narrative. When you are talking about damaged goods, you need one. (This in no way detracts from the fact the quintessential Quintus punked you a la Ashton Kutcher!) 🤣

🐓: I know of no one, "mad scientist" or not, who would dare tamper with these vintage, much-vaunted proof cents. I do not know how old the 'prints are, but, relying on the standard eight points of identification, believe they belonged to Henrietta ""Hetty" Howland Robinson Green, better known as "The Witch of Wall Street," the richest woman in America at the turn of the century, circa 1901, who amassed a fortune of $100 million ($2.5 B in today's dollars). One of her sons owned one of the 1913 Liberty Head nickels; another lost his leg when he was denied entry to a charity hospital when his miserly mother adamantly refused to have him admitted to a private hospital in NYC.

🐓: The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry... We're not even a week into the New Year and already experiencing operating difficulties... NOT exceeding last year's ambitious traveling itinerary probably stands you in good stead. Karma has intervened and, depending on your religious convictions, dealt you a most welcome respite. None of us are getting any younger. I have been criticized for breaking my Resolution, but the more astute amongst us have observed I never made any. 🤣 Resignation? Moi? Not at all. I was simply carrying "The Message to Garcia" (1915). I am merely a mouthpiece with a prognostication: I predict present-day H.C., if permitted to do so, shall make his re-re-debut with a new moniker in printemps. Incidentally, the much heralded F10F GR project is not feasible. The series is 75% smaller but infinitely more difficult to assemble in respectable grades.

🐓: Welcome! What a shock it is to read virtually heretical thoughts on this Forum! When I casually mentioned my use of an antique jeweler's 30-power loupe, I was roundly condemned, eviscerated, disemboweled and discarded by the professional crowd boasting 150 years of numismatic experience amongst them. I saw things they've never seen: the perfectly formed incisions of V D B on the Lincoln cent. One day I was trying to figure out why my old gold coin lost 3 points and was assessed as an MS67. And there it was: a triangular pit barely visible to the naked eye which I later determined to be the result of an accidental collision between an otherwise gorgeous, lustrous coin with original mint luster and a surgical instrument which likely fell from an inattentive dentist's hand. I tell you, though I was inculcated thoroughly with the standard grader's indispensable 5x-to-7x loupe, the magnification provided by the verboten one was beyond compare, opening up new vistas and revealing secrets I never knew existed. The sole drawback: totally useless when examining a pixelated photo. Who's to deny us our forbidden pleasures? 🤣

🐓: Me thinketh any discussion regarding bumps should be referred to a local authority for deliberation, Master Bumpologist @Mike Meenderink . 🤣

I agree. Seems to be a clever marketing ploy that seems to be working -- so far. I have bought and I have sold a long, long time ago. The only saving grace for collectors of this line of tchotchke is a sufficient rise in spot silver to overcome the colossal lapse in judgment in buying metals which come all dressed up courtesy of the various finishing schools. 🤣

🐓: You worried about this Wu-Tang Clan? Q.A: I'm 72! What, me worry? 🤣

🐓: They do, but something else has come up that explains, in part, why I have been waiting two years for an upgrade: the major dealers in at least six nations in Europe have quietly dispensed with, i.e., abandoned, formal Mint State grading, as practiced by their U.S. counterparts, in favor of their own -- particularly in the highest grades. Thus, a single term embraces the top FIVE grades, MS-65 to MS-70, e.g., FDC (France and Italy) UNC (England) ST (Germany) and SC (Spain). The other problem as noted by Messrs. RWB, VKB and z is lack of availability. The onus is now on the buyer to make the call as to whether a candidate appears to be suitable for submission.

🐓: A distinguished panel of exuberant hobbyists have weighed in and I am inclined to accept their findings provisionally. But they failed to note or explain one peculiarity... Anyone care to credibly explain, "encasement" notwithstanding, how a cent which was presumably minted with a standard, forward-looking number 1 in 1958, magically reversed direction?

🐓: That classic exchange captures the very essence of the spirit, i.e. joie de vivre of your Noo Yawk neighbor.

🐓: Equivocation, eh? [I have always held you in the highest regard -- and I believe you know that.

🐓: Look at the bright side. The number of followers you [had] just doubled in three days. 🤣

Blast from the Past! 🐓: Briefly, to enable H.C. to formally announce his resignation, effective the last day/hour/minute of 2023 [without prejudice to return should unprecedented, unanticipated popular demand arise for him to return].

I will be happy to, but will do so privately.

I look at it this way. Every company or concern -- and Set Registry has its definitions. By Dansco album standards, your #8125 is complete. Whitman would beg to disagree. There is a member here who boasts, Never a slave to a holder I will ever be, or something like that. Fortunately, for him, hybrids are accepted and he can mix and match to his heart's content. If such sets were not accepted, or CAC-stickered holders were no longer accepted, he'd have to improvise: consolidate, or form parallel sets, and some brand-loyal collectors apparently do. As far as I am concerned, my 🐓 short set of eight restrikes, comprising half the series, is complete. Can a Liberty Head V-nickel set be deemed complete without a 1913? Taken to its logical extreme, whomsoever owns the 1933 St. Gaudens double-eagle is the only person in a position to declare that minus his coin, all other sets are incomplete. I suppose the same could be said for those who own 1943 copper cents. Within the limitations set by Dansco for your series, your set is "complete."

On reflection, this is a curious query. You single out the L in LIBERTY for melding with the rim seemingly oblivious to the fact that, and more, had occurred with every letter bar none in the motto, IN GOD WE TRUST. If this were a brand-new coin, your suspicion would have substance. But with the passage of upwards of 60 years, any number of things can happen to a coin and very often ordinary wear and tear complicates a clear diagnosis.

Yes.

Absolutely correct. Correctamundo. But do not quote me for attribution on this!

What TPGS, "The People" had long held in sepulchral awe, is going to ever admit, "Houston, we have a problem!"? The irrepressible Mark Feld, the consummate gentleman, put his name and reputation on the line, repeatedly, to defend a dear old friend, JA, whose very integrity was being questioned and it is hardly surprising to learn, faced with a "scandal" which would impugn the reputation of an innovative company, and all who were affiliated with it, J.A., presented with the choice of explaining a conflict of interest, i.e. engaging in questionable conduct which had apparently gone on for some time -- worshipping both God and mammon with a bit of body English, fancy footwork and sleight of hand -- exercised his right instead to remain silent, excused himself, and abandoned the baby he had a hand in creating, with class, neither explaining or implicating anyone else directly. If, as you maintain, "lower-rated but CORRECTLY GRADED coins are going into lower CACG holders," that is as tacit an admission as any that they were not correctly graded to begin with. Hence, the outbreaks of incidences of the insidious "crackitis," the roots of which can be traced to the advent of Sheldonized grading which has since been weaponized with the advent of TPGS fueled by the insatiable thirst of investors who discovered money can be made by simply manipulating the one factor which gives it its value. How 'bout we call this a long overdue "market correction," and leave it at that. Attn: Moderator... I thank you for permitting me to express myself. Man, I love this place! 🤣

[One USD = 1.33 CAD.]

I feel great, Kurt! No pain, not a complaint in the world. Just a general air of malaise. A disenchantment, if you will. Hard to pin down. You may recall Ol'hoop's refusal to "ignore" members. My own peccadillo is "do not overstay your welcome and do not remain where you are not wanted." This will give those members who fled the premises a chance to regroup, return, and reset the ambience. All for the better. I only regret that with my departure, the Pallet Man will have lost fully 50% of his followers: me!

Relax, Great One! You don't need it anymore.

IMNSHO... How do you determine the "correct" grade in the absence of a clearly delineated continuum which apparently had to be established, in the beginning, at the infancy of TPGS, some decades ago? We are still in the experimental stage and what we are witnessing are birth pangs. I have said all along (and been ignored all along) when I mused how can anyone grade a coin in a vacuum when the highest grades have yet to be found and certified? Example: what would you do if a coin is assigned a high grade, but higher grades are [inevitably] submitted over time? A decision must be made to recalibrate the grades. My MS67 cannot be permitted to remain one if a plethora of intermediate grades are certified suggesting the MS67 should be an MS66 if a more suitable MS67 is found, leaving room for three more increments. The video posted by Fenntucky Mike is instructive in this regard: an MS-70 which had been adjudged flawless is downgraded upon re-examination by CACG as an MS-69 due to a barely perceptible mark. That's painful, but just. I enjoy coin collecting as a hobby. If you are in this field to make a killing in a short period of time as an investor, you are bound to be disappointed. I believe RWB has the firmest grasp and understanding of the intricacies of grading and the importance of establishing formal written standards. My rude awakening to the realities of grading came when one TPGS declined to cross-grade another's MS67 -- and the coin I had purchased sight-unseen was re-listed and my money, minus expenses, was duly refunded. How can you argue with a seller who had no part in grading the coin? You cannot. To me it is morally repugnant and ethically reprehensible that such shenanigans are allowed to occur in the Hobby of Kings.